Chapter 244
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 244
Chapter Title: The Season When the Rose Withers & Farewell
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#The Season When the Rose Withers (7)
I pay the price.
The tyrant in the darkness growled. And he flinched in surprise. It wasn't words that had passed through his mind. It was just the heat boiling in his chest spilling out like nonsense. After the surprise faded, anger followed. To lose control over himself to this extent. Wasn't it just like before the deal?
*Cough, cough.* The old boy hacked with a dry cough. Go Geoncheol was exhausted. Because of insomnia. More precisely, the nightmares that came every time he fell asleep were the cause. In his dreams, the tyrant was always in his past form. That very body the woman had mocked. A monument to defeat made of flesh and blood.
An unbreakable flower—that was exactly what Han Ga-eul wanted. For him to abandon Han Gyeowol's body, not seize anyone else's, and face her as his true self, Go Geoncheol. Only then could it begin. As person to person. Technically, it was possible. His genes were preserved. Cultivating a clone body wouldn't take long. In an era where money was immortality itself. However.
It was impossible. There was no way he could be loved in that form....
Go Geoncheol groaned without realizing it.
'Even I found it repulsive! Why did I have to change my body in the first place!'
It was an impossible deal. Because he couldn't pay the price.
The baby cried. The tyrant stared at his grandson with hollow eyes. Why had he even bothered bringing this thing here? He pondered until the baby tired of crying, but no answer came. His mind felt fogged with a hazy mist. Was it lack of sleep, other worries weighing on him, or simply because he wanted to avoid the answer?
The answer came suddenly.
It was possible that Go Ayoung, his daughter who resembled that woman, truly loved this baby.
He had mocked it as mere delusion, nothing more than a belief she clung to. How could someone who looked like that woman even feel love? She didn't have such emotions to begin with.
Han Ga-eul held a large share in his growing doubts. No, she was the beginning and end of all this confusion. Since the emotion he believed immortal had ended in mortality, he had never imagined such torment would return. This horrific time. What kind of joke was this?
"Chairman. You look terribly worn out."
A polite, pleasant voice that somehow hissed. To the tyrant, she was a well-honed blade of a secretary.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Honestly, it's quite severe. You look like a dying man. Are you eating properly?"
"...."
"Why not take some medicine and get some rest right now?"
"No. It's not a problem that can be solved that way."
Go Geoncheol felt his irregular pulse. It was fine. The body was just matter, a tool. If this body broke, he could remake it. He could renew it endlessly. In any case, he wouldn't go back to how things were before.
"*Cough*. *Ahem*.... Did you deliver the gift?"
The special secretary's face twisted unpleasantly for a moment at the question. The chairman let it slide. She was capable and loyal, but fundamentally a venomous snake. She must have hated this situation and the task assigned to her.
"Yes. She seemed satisfied."
"How much?"
"It was the first time I'd seen her smile, even briefly. She asked me to convey her thanks."
"She smiled."
The satisfaction was faint. Go Geoncheol felt a greater misery instead.
The gift. He had once proposed it to Han Ga-eul. If she gave him her body and heart, he would save children in the same plight as Han Gyeowol. She refused the deal, but just in case, the tyrant had saved those wretched kids anyway. Spending money without conditions was different from paying a price. It was economically unwise, utterly foolish, and tantamount to denying himself.
"I still don't understand it."
The secretary said.
"Autumn may be different from other women, but she's not worth tying down someone of your stature, Chairman. No, you shouldn't be bound to anyone."
"So?"
"This is sincere advice, so please don't be angry. She's just a woman in the end. The type who gets arrogant without limit if you elevate her. Crush her once, and she'll give up soon enough. No matter what, she won't kill herself. Not with those precious siblings she cherishes so much."
The chairman twisted into a smile. He knew that for all her talk of loyalty, what mattered to the secretary was not the chairman himself, but his shadow. That made her all the more trustworthy. The tyrant had always paid the price.
"Don't touch her. Not yet."
One word was enough. The secretary bowed her head silently.
When the secretary visited Autumn with the gift, she was there as a site supervisor in work clothes, among foreign laborers. Her sweat-soaked appearance in the summer heat was striking, and the secretary stared for quite a while. Amid the gray laborers caked in grime and dust, she fit in with bizarre seamlessness.
Having received the children's video letters, Autumn added a sigh to her fleeting smile.
"I didn't expect the Chairman to do this.... Please convey my thanks."
"Is that all?"
"If I said more, it might offend him."
The secretary found Autumn's words displeasing. The chairman she knew would indeed take it that way.
"Isn't it time to end the haggling?"
"Haggling?"
"Your price."
The sunlight was irritatingly hot. The secretary shielded her nape with her hand. Even her climate-controlled suit couldn't protect exposed skin. Not like those vermin foreigners—he'd rarely had to tour a plant in such weather.
Her displeasure grew because Autumn remained unshaken.
"Don't misunderstand. This is purely my own words. Your value is at its peak right now. It's practically the Chairman declaring surrender. So stop making demands you know won't work and sell while the price is high? Regret comes from not selling at the top, whether it's your body or stocks."
"...."
"You seem to enjoy playing the noble type with your expensive body among these cheap lives?"
The secretary gestured at the cheap lives.
"Have you never wondered if something's off while doing this work? Why are there still so many humans when machines could replace them? Such simple tasks—control AI could handle them easily."
"Maybe because they're still needed. Companies don't do things that lose money."
"Wrong."
The secretary thought: Fool. In this era, does she really believe humans are more useful than machines? In this country, of all places, with the most advanced AI, the Trinity Engine? For such pathetic, low-level labor?
Sure, there could be some. But not this many. No need for this many....
"Want me to tell you why? Because humans are the ultimate commodity."
That's right. Comparing value to machines is meaningless. The price is always paid by humans. Machines don't desire. And what doesn't desire can't replace the one humans desire.
"Serving the Chairman has made me realize anew: money is power. A means of domination. If you can't dominate humans, it's worthless. Those useless cheap ones over there? They're just swarming to get even cheaper. The task I was given is just to break them in."
Autumn assessed calmly.
"Well. To me, it sounds like even people like you can't live without others."
The secretary laughed coldly.
"Yeah.... In a way, you're right. The satisfaction of buying people with money.... Nothing else can replace it."
"...."
"Someday machines might replace humans in this too, but not yet."
"You're long-winded. What's your point?"
"Sell."
Her tone was colder and firmer than before.
"The Chairman is a man who gets what he pays for. If he neglects you even slightly, it violates his principles. It'd be denying the value he himself paid. So drop that pathetic resistance and sell reasonably. You won't regret it for life."
Autumn nodded.
"I heard you loud and clear. If that's all, I'll be going now."
"Hey."
The secretary irritably ran a hand through her hair.
"If the Chairman's interest fades, you won't get off unscathed. Truth be told, I've wanted to see you cry since we first met. Well, consider this advice for your own good."
Confidence that these words wouldn't reach the chairman's ears if overheard.
Autumn thought: Winter, the world is full of adults younger than us.
#Farewell (1)
"Look at this, Captain! It's you! The ultimate super rare character! I'm the only one in the battalion with it!"
Excited Han Byeol thrust the Net Warrior terminal at Winter. As a basic smartphone, it could run commercial apps, including a mobile game approved by the Ministry of National Defense for boosting soldiers' morale. Build bases, expand, raise units, and smash variants—though the loading screen flashed a note about Army sponsorship.
"Her combat power is totally broken! Not even max level, with basic gear, but she clears most missions solo! It's realistic, but I wonder about the balance."
"Haha...."
Winter managed a suitable smile. The illustration felt like looking in a mirror.
"Is this game popular?"
"Totally! Over ten million users! Pretty sure everyone in the battalion plays it?"
At that, a few faces turned glum. Wonder why.
Anyway, the mood wasn't bad. Han Byeol's affability, even greater than Yura's, helped ease the new battalion members' tension. Deputy battalion commander Singh had messaged he'd delay the briefing. Said swapping stories took priority since it had been a while. He'd gone on patrol of the garrison's perimeter himself. He'd seemed decent from the start.
Buoyed by the mild air, Private Victor Cook hesitantly raised his hand. One of the adoptees Amelia Flemmings had brought along due to lacking citizenship.
"C-Captain.... Do you get side income from stuff like this?"
"Stuff like this? What do you mean?"
"You know, appearing in ads a lot, in games too, so I wondered if you get, uh, guarantees or something."
His Korean was halting but grammatically correct. Though English was prioritized in a U.S. Army battalion, it seemed the result of tireless efforts to adapt to the community.
Winter shook his head.
"Nope."
"Why...."
"We're soldiers. Treated like federal employees, so outside income is banned. Doesn't mean they can use my name or image freely, but if it's officially approved for public reasons, they probably don't need to pay guarantees."
"I see...."
Not in this world, but he'd appeared in recruitment ads enough times back then to know. Of course, he didn't know all the regs. Outside pay was restricted but allowed to a degree, with real penalties starting at colonel level. Meaning Winter could moonlight without the JAG sending a summons.
'There was that gift issue before.'
It had been so unusual they'd drafted a trust agreement.
Come to think of it, how had that turned out? Even with the volume, it should be processed by now. Winter grew curious about the mail piling up at his Fort Roberts PO box. There'd surely be bank statements on the account info among them.
============================ Author's Note ============================
#Q&A
Q. Carpis: @SALHAE's fate is in Jjakka-nim's innocent heart. Does he die?
A. I can't answer about future developments even with @. Sorry. ㅠ
Q. UnlimitedOne: @The gap between ideals and reality on the death penalty is grill fodder(...) Wonder if only the control AI feels the impact Winter's stubborn path has on viewers.
A. This is another tricky one to answer. Please forgive me.
Q. -Anonymous: @Binged it nonstop for a week. The story barrels along without respite—got tired reading, but it's the most convincing web novel I've read. Thanks for your efforts, author. I'll keep watching^^
A. Thank you for enjoying it. I worked hard on making it convincing.
Q. StarlightSlicer: @Just keep writing steadily. With this quality, Noblesse will be worth it. I want to give you something. ㅇㅇ @Leftover manuscript coupon or whatever.
A. Thanks for caring. Views are steady, but Noblesse's share of total views is up, so Joara users must be declining lately.
Q. DawnWalk: Really.... Can't we buy just the dialogue parts separately? Want to reread whenever I think of it.
A. ATK: DawnWalk// Naver sells per episode, so check and buy the ones you want.
Q. OneChance: @Can't wait for the dialogues every time. Goosebumps!
A. As the author who worries every time writing dialogues, this is a welcome comment. :)
Q. AsadalAndPuremir2: @Happy pig! Oink oink!
A. Trying not to become an unhappy pig. Haha.
Q. VoiceHam: Searched "Bannak Home" and got "Dark Emperor"... gay porn actor, director, photographer lol. Guess he's internet famous? What community are you in, author?
A. For the same reason I avoid SNS, I don't do communities. Didn't post on boards even when serializing Sealbreaker on Typemoon Net. Chats are from observations. I lurked some communities but didn't reflect them since I couldn't handle the reactions.